


Playing House

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Flash Fic Night Prompts [42]
Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Male Friendship, Pisces Aphrodite & Cancer Deathmask (background)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 10:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12528852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: Aphrodite need to do some shopping. Milo is…not exactly overwhelmed with enthusiasm at the prospect.





	Playing House

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ingenious_spark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingenious_spark/gifts).



> Written on a prompt: “I’m not buying IKEA furniture again.”

“You are aware that you’re being a gigantic killjoy, right?”

 

Milo rolls his eyes, and Aphrodite bites on a sigh. Say what you want about painfully prideful people, but they are ridiculously easy to get where you want them to, provided you know which way they’ll run and when to stop with the goading. Milo, whose notion of honor lies in principles rather than arrogance or insecurities, has an infuriating tendency not to move at all, and Aphrodite has yet to figure his buttons out.

 

“Come on,” Aphrodite insists again, just in case, “it’s just a little bit of interior decoration!”

“Stop insisting,” Milo says while he drops something that smells like jasmine in his latest perfume vial, “I’m not buying IKEA furniture again.”

“It’s just a couple of wood planks!”

 

Aphrodite should, probably, be a little embarrassed at how whiny he sounds right now, but if he didn’t learn to maintain classical masculine pride up until now, he’s certainly not going to start just because Milo is being an uncooperative butt. Besides, you never know: if goading him doesn’t work, maybe being annoying will.

 

“They’re in Paris!” Milo snaps, finally turning away from his project, and almost pops a vein when Aphrodite shrugs:

 

“Actually the town’s called Bobigny.”

 

It’s highly probable Aphrodite enjoys the twitch of Milo’s eye more than he should. It’s not even revenge anymore at this point, just the pure, unadulterated joy of being a shithead just because he can. Sure, it got Aphrodite socked in the face more than a couple time but hey, that’s the price to pay when you like playing with people’s nerves.

 

“Aphrodite. I’m not running three thousand kilometers just so you can tell me you don’t like the shape of a closet or the color of glasses.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Aphrodite promises, “since I’m coming with you.”

 

He’s got to admit he’s kind of impressed with the way Milo manages to choke on thin air.

 

“You want me to do a _twenty-eight hours drive_ just so you can buy a couple of closets?”

“No,” Aphrodite says, allowing just enough of a silence between them for Milo to start dreaming about relief before he finishes: “I want to buy a furnished kitchen, a bedroom set and enough bookcases to fill an entire room with them.”

 

Scratch that bit about choking—Milo’s face at that last bit deserves to be framed and mounted on a wall. He goes crimson in the blink of an eye, hair all but raising up on his head as he tries to figure out the proper order of words to express how insane Aphrodite is exactly. It’s an expression Aphrodite is very familiar with, if only because Anchise wears it awfully often around him.

In the end, unlike Anchise, Milo deflates and sighs like the weight of the world just fell back on his shoulders before he runs a hand over his face and sighs:

 

“Fine. For you to insist that much it must be important—”

“Oh, shove your entire honor up your ass, Manicure,” Aphrodite snaps, shoving at Milo’s shoulder without restraint, “I don’t need a knight in golden armor!”

 

Milo pauses, clearly confused, and Aphrodite has to rein in an eye roll of his own. He knows exactly what Milo is about to say, and it does nothing but solidify his conviction that the next god he meets will get a solid punch in the nose. Possibly somewhere it hurts more.

 

“I…just said I’d do what you want me to?”

“No,” Aphrodite counters with a concerted effort not to sound like he’s addressing a toddler, “you just said ‘I don’t want to do this but I’m too noble to say no’. What I _want_ to hear is ‘fine, I’ll do it ‘cause we’re friends’.”

“Is ‘I’ll do it because you’re being a thorn in my side’ an acceptable substitute or is that a Death Mask exclusivity?”

 

Aphrodite glares at the dig, and Milo’s expression shifts to constipated apology before he really has time to enjoy his bit of cleverness. To be fair, it’s not like Anchise doesn’t do the same when discussing Milo with Aphrodite, but Aphrodite doesn’t let him get away with it either. Besides, ‘I’m doing this to make you shut up’ may be what people _hear_ when Anchise speaks, but it’s not what he _says_.

Aphrodite just doesn’t expect the others to realize that anytime soon.

 

“Right,” Milo mutters, reluctant but sincere, “sorry. Look, is it really that important to you?”

“I know I like being annoying,” Aphrodite replies with a roll of his eyes, “but I do know when to quit a joke.”

 

Milo looks at him for a long time, speculative face on, and Aphrodite can’t help but remember how much of a snotty asshole Camus was as a child. Used to look down on the rest, that one, too proud of his own smarts for his own good, constantly reminding everyone he was the smartest in the Sanctuary, until they were all separated for their out-of-bounds training. Milo got into a lot of stupid shit, as a kid, but he and Camus were friends since day one.

Maybe it’s not that surprising that he ends up sighing, softer but somehow more tired, and not-quite-asking:

 

“It’s for him, isn’t it?”

“I would have asked someone else but Saga’s not in a state to face the outside world, and experience showed Shaka is the worst shopping partner in the universe. That makes you my only real option.”

 

It’s easy to see the moment Milo decides not to ask why _Anchise_ can’t come and shop for his own new furniture. Aphrodite isn’t sure what stops the words from spilling out: friendship for him? Principled refusal to get involved in  fellow Saint’s issues? An unshakable dislike of anything Anchise-related? It’s anyone’s guess, really. Most likely, it’s a mix of the three, but either way, Milo stops short of asking the difficult question, and Aphrodite gives him a thankful smile for it.

He’s not sure these two will ever manage to tolerate each other, but if they can learn to pretend like they don’t actually hate each other’s guts Aphrodite is willing to take it.

 

“Alright,” Milo says at last, a rueful smile playing at the edge of his lips, “I’ll come along…but we’re doing doing some tourism as well.”

“Of course! I think I might manage to arrange a visit in a perfumer’s workshop, if you want.”

 

Milo’s face brightens at the prospect, surprisingly enthusiastic about getting to smell a ton of things Aphrodite wouldn’t be able to tell apart if his life depended on it. It’s the good part of being friends with the guy: once you start figuring out what he likes, he actually has very few restraints about showing he’s pleased. Sometimes, that kind of easy response is a refreshing change from the abysses of subtlety wrapped around Aphrodite’s relationship with Anchise.

 

“Oh, one last thing,” Milo says, one finger raising up as if to silence Aphrodite’s question, “you’re driving. The whole way there.”

 

This time it’s Aphrodite’s time to choke on thin air, but it’s okay. He’ll just make sure to play terrible pop cassette tapes the whole time.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Greece didn't get its first IKEA shop until 2001. At the time of the Saint Seiya series, the French one was one of the closest options (possibly a little farther than Spain's lone shop but I didn't check). Other locations at the time included: Kuwait, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.  
>   
> Comments and reviews make me want to keep writing :3


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